fishman1

Wow - haven't been to this thread in over 8 months! A little sad - he finally passed away today. He certainly didn't appear to be in pain or anything. Just before he died he made a real effort to come to the top of the tank and grab a couple of granules I had put in at the top for him. The tumour had probably doubled since Jun 06...I took him into my local pet shop, however the guy said there was probably nothing I could do for him and that it would be best just to let nature take its course. In my previous post, I got it wrong on how old he was. I bought him at my local pet shop waay back in 96' - he made it to 11 years old! Now thats not bad! I just had another fish die of old age about 2 months ago - he was ten! A very healthy fish he was as well - however he was 10 yrs old! Anyway - just wanted to say thanks for your help guys, it was much appreciated at the time. At least I had the satisfaction in knowing I did all I could for him!

So - how exactly do you go about cutting it off? By the looks of it, there could be fluid inside the puffyness and I wouldn't want to do more damage by lancing it and draning the fluid. What I'll do it treat him with so Epsom salts and see how he goes - if theres no improvement, I might just have to try your suggestion... Thanks fishboi Regards, Matthew (p.s. at this stage I haven't put him in a hospital tank as...how can I say it...the shock of it all would probably kill him..he is an old fish and is kind of 'best buddies' with another fish in the tank....on the odd ocasion when I was cleaning the tank, I would remove the fish into a smaller tank....however they would become very unsettled and one of them (who's fine and healthy would always attempt to jump out of the tank - he did once and fortunately it wasn't a long drop and I was there to put him back in!

Thanks for your concern Caper / Caryl... Here are some recent photos of the fish. The puffyness has expanded and there are some small 'black bits' also appearing on the blister. However he still doesn't seem too affected by it - he's swimming normally, eating fine and still doesn't seem to be bothering him too much. The other fish in the tank are also fine - so its not like a disease that has spread. If it is necrotizing fasciitis, how do I treat this? Thanks for your help.... Regards, Matthew

Not a lot of change really here - I have been treating with Melafix for over 1 week and no real change. I have decided to now isolate the fish into a seperate hospital tank and treat him with salt and see how he goes - if there is no go with that, I will carry out pegasus's suggestion. Just a comment - around the infected area small black bits have developed. He's not looking 2 happy so I am going to move pretty quickly.

Thanks Pegasus - I will seriously consider your option. I have removed the carbon filter and will try a course of melafix for 1 week and see how it goes. After that, I may very well consider your suggestion. Regards. Matthew

Thanks Pegasus - I'm not 2 sure if I'm up for that! I wouldn't want to accidentally do more damage to the fish - I'm certainly not skilled in animal surgery! Thankyou for the idea though - very quickly, should I isolate the fish from the tank (where there is ONE other fish - he is fine) and put him in a hospital tank where I can treat him more appropriately?

No real change in the appearance of the condition - I have been treating with melafix once a day. Perhaps I should remove the carbon filter out of the tank so the melafix won't just get absorbed? Apart from the condition of the ulcer on his skin, he's doing great - he seems quite happy and zipping around the tank as normal foraging for food and eating normally....

Oh really? Wow, I didn't know that! He's really just a young fella then! BTW I took a photo of him, just to see if anyone can shed any more light on the topic....

Caryl, I am not too sure if the 'blister' has come as a result of injury, however it could be a possiblity. Sometimes when I feed the fish, they whiz around totally nuts over the fact that it is dinner time and perhaps he could have bumped into a rock formation inside the tank? However another possible factor is age. He certainly is an old fish...I can't exactly remember when I got him but he must be at least 5-6 years old now. I am just keen to find out EXACTLY what his condition is so I can treat it accordingly. Regards, Matthew

I am sorry to break the bad news, but the symptoms experienced by your fish are typical of swim bladder disease. When a fish has this, it looses control of its buoyancy. Unfortunately there isn't really a lot you can do to help a fish with this condition. I have lost one fish in the past who had this condition. Doing a quite look on the internet I found a couple of possible remedies: ============================================== * Feed your fish a couple of peas. That's right, peas. Just get some frozen peas, thaw them, and feed them to your fish. A professor of fish medicine at N.C. State College of Veterinary Medicine has done this in several cases with very good results. He thinks that the peas somehow encourage destruction of the impaction. No hard scientific data yet, but it's worth a try. * Fast your fish for a couple of days. Withhold all food for three or four days, and sometimes this alone will break up the impaction and return things to normal. Most fish can go a week to ten days without food and be just fine. For prevention, heres a couple of tips: ============================ What can I do to prevent swim bladder disease? As always, the golden rule of fish disease is WATER QUALITY. If swim bladder disease does have an infectious cause, your fish will be better able to resist this infection (and others) if your water quality is good. Regular water changes and water testing are a must. Pre-soak your flake or pelleted food. This will allow expansion to occur prior to the fish eating it, and will lessen the chance of impaction. ============================================== Perhaps it might just be worth trying something as mentioned above. I hope you have sucess in your treatment of this fish's ailment. Kind Regards, Matthew P.S. Have a look at this google search I did on swim bladder disease: http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&q=goldfish+swim+bladder&meta=

Just recently I noticed that one of my oldest goldfish has started to develop a blister-like infection on his body just above his left gill. I have been treating the tank with Melafix however the condition of the fish does not appear to be improving. The skin has swollen and has gone puffy almost like a blister. The fish seems to be quite docile and tends to just lie on the bottom of the tank quite a lot. If anyone could please offer any advice to what this ailment is and possible remedies I would be most obliged. Regards, Matthew